The beaming smiles of parents, the swelling pride of advisors and colleagues, and the heartwarming tributes to graduating second year PAFs defined the atmosphere of the annual PAF Commencement Reception on Friday, May 13. The event brought together individuals whose support was crucial to the success of the graduates to kickoff a weekend that was full of pomp and circumstance. The commencement reception also served to both invite second year PAFs into our alumni community and welcome incoming PAFs as our newest cohort.
President Steven Knapp’s remarks, which reflected the sentiments of the wider PAF community, honored the legacies that the outgoing second years have cultivated at GW while welcoming incoming PAFs to continue to make their own marks on this university. Continuing PAFs and the PAF Advising Team took advantage of the moment to reflect on the defining strengths of the second years and the great memories they have facilitated.
The reception took place at the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum, a host department for one of the PAF program’s most recent alumnae, Kelsey Johnston, CCAS BA ‘14 MA ’16 as well as fellow PAF alumna Lauren Shenfeld, CCAS BA ’13 MA ‘15. Thank you to the Museum, and particular Director and PAF Preceptor John Wetenhall, for hosting us and to all the alumni and other members of the PAFamily who joined us.
The university’s Commencement weekend was keynoted by Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey who issued a rallying call to GW’s graduates to move beyond simply “tolerating” one another in order to strive to embody love, justice, and respect. This is a strong message that surely resonated with our graduates who one last time deserve a hearty congratulations and good luck from all of us in the PAF community!
We also want to extend a special thanks to Fiona Conroy, CCAS BA '04, CPS MA '06 for speaking on behalf of the GW Alumni Association and to the GWAA for their co-sponsorship of the reception.
